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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

“Clothed and in His Right Mind”

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"My grace is sufficient for thee..." Those were the words of the Lord to the Apostle Paul after he had prayed three times for Him to remove the thorn from his flesh. Now, these were not just idle words the Lord used to comfort Paul, nor were they meant to tell him to stop his whining. God's grace truly is sufficient for every circumstance His children will ever encounter. There is grace I or you or anyone you can think of has never experienced and the reason for that is that we have never needed it. But when we need God's grace for any circumstance we face, it truly is sufficient. You may say, "What's that got to do with the title of the article?" Well, if you will please read on, I believe it will become crystal clear to you.

The story can be found in the book of Mark, chapter 5, verses 1-20 and also in Luke 8, verses 26-39. When Jesus commanded the unclean spirits to come out of the man they called Legion they entered into a herd of swine and the swine ran down into the deep water and drowned. Well, the people who were feeding the swine saw this and they went and told everybody. All the people came to see what was done. When they came, they found him sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. Now, what does that mean, "in his right mind?" It doesn't mean that he all of a sudden got a degree from a university, nor that he all of a sudden knew everything about everything. He was sitting at the feet of Jesus. The Lord had saved him and that was all that he needed to know.

Now, I've been visiting my dear Mother in the hospital for the past week now and I don't know exactly what all is wrong with her, but her mind has been severely affected. My dear friend Dr. J. Harold Smith has a sermon that he has put on video cassette tape entitled, "What Do You Think?" The sermon is a very good one and in it he says, that you could lose both your arms or both your legs and so on and still be an asset to others, but if you lose your mind, you will be of no service to yourself or others. Now, I agree with this very much to a point and then God's grace overcomes even that.

As I would visit my Mother in the hospital and see how that she most of the time didn't know where she was, even when you would tell her and then sometimes she didn't even know her own children. I was really saddened to see her like that. That just wasn't like my Mother at all. Well, I've had the opportunity to talk with her a lot about the Lord and how He has been so good to us and to talk about where we are going when we leave this old world. While she didn't know where she was, she could still tell all about going home to be with the Lord. When we would be about to leave and I would ask her if there was anything I could do for her or get for her, her reply would be, "Pray for me." I had already talked with her about seeking God's will and not our own and she didn't want me to pray for God to heal her, but to seek His will. I did pray for that and that He would grant us the grace to cope with His will whatever it was.

This morning the Lord led me to the story about the man called Legion and him being in his right mind at the feet of Jesus. Now that's God's grace. I had read this story before, but I saw it in a whole new light just this morning. My Mother may not know where she is, but she knows where she is going. Now, there are an awful lot of people out there, many of them professor of big universities who can tell you where they are and many other things, but they can't honestly tell you where they are going. If you give them a hint and point blank ask them, "Are you going to heaven when you die?" The will say something like, "I sure hope so". Well, if they were, they would be more sure about it than where they were right then. "For by grace are ye saved through faith;... Ephesians 2:8. Or they will say something like, "Well, if so and so is going to heaven, I'm going". Well, I don't know about so and so, but I can tell you that the person who says that is definitely not going. Now the rest of the verse, Ephesians 2:8 "and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" and Ephesians 2:9 "Not of works, lest any man should boast." Being as good as so and so will not get a man to heaven. Now, who is more in their right mind, my Mother who doesn't always know where she is, but knows beyond a shadow of a doubt where she is going, or the person who knows where they are and many other things, but doesn't have a clue as to where they are going when this life is over!!!

I heard a story once of a dear lady who was bed ridden. Beside her bed she had a telephone book. Each day, she would go the list in her phone book and call the next number in her calling area. When someone would answer the phone, she would explain, "You don't know me but I am so and so. I am bed ridden and can't get out, but I am concerned about your soul. Do you know Jesus?" That person probably won more people to Christ than most well bodied church members ever thought about winning. Now, she too was clothed and in her right mind. What about all those poor sinners who don't have a clue as to where they are going? Are we to just watch them go to hell or are we in our right mind?

Also, I once saw someone with a cap on that read, "Why Be Normal". I didn't think much about it at the time, because the Lord hadn't saved me at the time, but since He saved me, I have thought about that cap this recent condition of my Mother has brought a lot more thought about it. The person who had that cap on had it on backwards or their head was on backwards one. The point is, that what that person didn't realize is that by the world's standards and way of measuring normal, they were normal. The way the world measures normal is, they draw a line and do a survey and all those who fall nearest to the line are normal. All those who fall above the line are considered to be above normal and all those who fall below the line are considered to be below normal. In aptitude they ask a bunch of questions and the majority will be on the line and that will be the norm or normal. In strength they will have a group of people lift, push and pull certain weights and the majority will be on the line setting the normal for strength. What would the world judge church members as normal? They would survey how many served the Lord, they would survey how many tithed, they would survey how many prayed earnestly and how regularly, they would survey how many read their Bibles and how much and how often. I think you get the point. So I say, "Indeed, Why Be Normal?"